A pleasant Song of the Valiant Deeds of Chivalry,
atchievd by that Noble Knight, Sir Guy of Warwick, who for the love of fair Phillis
became a Hermit, and dyed in a Cave of a Craggy Rock, a mile distant from Warwick.
To the Tune of, Was ever man, etc.
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WAs ever Knight for Ladies sake,
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so tost in love, as I Sir Guy?
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For Phillis fair that Lady bright,
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as ever man beheld with eye;
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She gave me leave my self to try,
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the valiant Knights with shield and spear
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Ere that her love she would grant me,
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which made me venture far and neer.
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The proud Sir Guy a barren bold,
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in deeds of arms the Doubtful Knight,
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That every day in England was,
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with sword and spear in field to fight:
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An English-man I was by birth,
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in faith of Christ a Christian true;
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The wicked Laws of Infidels,
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I sought by power to subdue.
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Two hundred twenty years and odd,
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after our Saviour Christ his birth,
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When King Atheston wore the Crown,
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I lived here upon the earth:
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Sometimes I was of Warwick Earl,
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and as I said in very truth:
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A Ladies love did me constrain
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to seek strange vertues in my youth.
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To try my fame by feats of Arms,
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in strange and sundry heathen Lands,
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Where I atchieved for her sake
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right dangerous conquests with my hands.
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For first I saild to Normandy,
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and there I stoutly won in fight,
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The Emperors daughter of Almany,
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from many a valiant worthy Knight.
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Then passed I the Seas of Greece,
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to help the Emperor to his right,
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Against the mighty Soldans Hoast,
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of puissant Persians for to fight:
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Where I did slay of Sarazens,
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and heathen Pagans many a Man;
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And slew the Soldans Couzin dear,
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who had to name, daughty Calbron.
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Ezkeldred that Famous Knight,
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to death likewise I did pursue,
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And Almain King of Tyre also,
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most terrible too in fight to view.
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I went into the Soldans Hoast,
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being thither on ambassage sent,
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And brought away his head with me,
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I having slain him in his Tent.
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THere was a Dragon in the Land,
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which also I my self did slay;
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[A]s he a Lyon did pursue,
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most fiercely met me by the way:
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[F]rom thence I past the Seas of Greece,
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and came to Pavy land aright;
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[W]here I the Duke of Pavy Kild,
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his hainous treason to requite.
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[A]nd after came into this land,
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towards fair Phillis Lady bright;
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[F]or love of whom I travelled far
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to try my manhood and my might:
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But when I had espoused her,
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I staid with her but forty days,
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But there I left this Lady fair,
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and then I went beyond the Seas.
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[A]ll clad in gray in Pilgrim sort,
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my voyage from her I did take,
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[U]nto that blessed Holy Land,
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for Jesus Christ my Saviours sake:
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Where I Earl Jonas did redeem,
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and all his Sons, which were fifteen:
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Who with the cruel Sarazens,
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in Prison for long time had been.
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[I] slew the Gyant Amarant
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in battel fiercely hand to hand,
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And Daughty Barknard killed I,
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the mighty Duke of that same Land:
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Then I to England came again,
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and here with Colbron fell I fought,
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An ugly Gyant, which the Danes,
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had for their Champion thither brought.
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I overcame him in the field,
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and slew him dead right valiantly;
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Where I the Land did then redeem
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from Danish tribute utterly:
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And afterwards I offered up
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the use of weapons solemnly;
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At Winchester, whereas I fought
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in sight of many far and nigh.
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In Windsor Forrest I did slay,
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a Boar of passing might and strength;
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The like in England never was,
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for hugeness both in breadth and length;
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Some of his bones in Warwick yet,
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within the Castle there do lie;
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One of his shield bones to this day,
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hangs in the City of Coventry.
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On Dunsmore-heath I also slew,
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a monstrous wild and cruel beast,
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Calld the Dun Cow of Duns-more-heath,
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which many people had opprest:
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Some of her bones in Warwick yet,
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still for a monument do lie,
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Which unto every lookers view,
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as wondrous strange they may espy.
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Another Dragon in the Land,
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I also did in fight destroy,
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Which did both men and beasts oppress
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and all the Country sore annoy:
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An[d] then to Warwick came again,
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like Pilgrim poor, and was not known,
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And there I livd a Hermits life,
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a mile and more out of the town.
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Where with my hand I hewd a house,
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out of a craggy rock of stone;
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And lived like a Palmer poor,
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within that Cave my self alone:
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And daily came to beg my food
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of Phillis at my Castle Gate,
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Not known unto my loving Wife,
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who mourned daily for her mate.
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Till at the last I fell sore sick,
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yea sick so sore that I must dye;
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I sent to her a ring of gold,
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by which she knew me presently:
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Then she repairing to the Cave,
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before that I gave up the Ghost;
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Her self closd up my dying eyes,
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my Phillis fair, whom I lovd most.
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Thus dreadful death did me arrest,
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to bring my corps unto the Grave,
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And like a Palmer dyed I,
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whereby I sought my life to save:
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My body in Warwick yet doth lie,
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though now it be consumd to mold,
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My stature there was graven in stone,
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this present day you may behold.
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